If a new experiment pans out, Medicaid and Medicare could begin covering the costly weight loss drugs that price out many Americans who might want to try them.
After killing a Biden-era plan with the same goal, the Trump administration is working on a five-year pilot program that would allow state Medicaid programs and Medicare’s prescription plan to opt into covering drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro for “weight management,” The Washington Post reports.
In its final months, the Biden administration proposed expanding Medicaid and Medicare coverage for popular weight loss drugs, extending it to roughly 7.5 million people enrolled in those programs.
In April, the Trump administration tossed that plan – a move that was somewhat expected given Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vocal opposition to the weight loss drugs that have taken America by storm. Now, something very similar appears to be back on the table.
Differences of opinion
Kennedy’s view is at odds with other members of the Trump administration, including Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Oz, a former surgeon best known as a daytime television personality prior to joining the federal government, has long boosted weight loss drugs like Ozempic.
“I’ll respect you no matter what your weight might be, but for those who want to lose a few pounds, Ozempic and other semaglutide medications can be a big help,” Oz said in a social media post in 2023. “We need to make it as easy as possible for people to meet their health goals, period.”
Oz has also been paid to promote the drugs in the past. In 2019, Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk sponsored a nine-minute long infomercial on Oz’s daytime talk show praising the benefits of using Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes.
On the other side of the coin, Kennedy at HHS is staunchly opposed to weight loss drugs like Ozempic and has made misleading claims about the class of drugs in the past. “They’re counting on selling it to Americans because we’re so stupid and so addicted to drugs,” Kennedy said in an interview he shared on Instagram last year.
Kennedy, a prominent figure in anti-vaccine circles before joining the Trump administration, has a long track record of elevating health conspiracy theories, even while promoting other common sense ideas around health and wellness. Kennedy, who opposes the use of many prescription medications, believes that the prominence of processed foods in the American diet is a root cause of many of the country’s health woes.
What is the status now?
While Medicaid and Medicare don’t evenly cover GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic for weight loss, 13 state Medicaid programs do offer coverage to treat obesity. For people on Medicaid and Medicare, coverage is much more widely available when GLP-1 drugs are prescribed to Type 2 diabetes.
The Washington Post reports that the trial program is slated to start in April 2026 for Medicaid and in January 2027 for Medicare. The program is connected to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which experiments with new ways to lower costs and deliver coverage for people enrolled in those subsidized insurance programs.
According to documents viewed by the Post, the program has yet to be finalized. Whether it goes into effect or not, the experimental plan to extend coverage shows that the anti-Ozempic faction of the Trump administration might find itself overruled when it comes to the weight loss drug.
